AIRS & BALLETS IN FRANCE BEFORE THE TIME OF LULLY

 

Limited Edition

 

Pierre GUÉDRON (alpha 019)

Anthoine BOESSET (alpha 057)

Estienne MOULINIÉ (alpha 005)

 

Le poème harmonique/ Vincent Dumestre

 

An anthology of songs (bawdy, blithe, funny or tender), airs de cour and ballets by three major French composers of the first half of the seventeenth century: Pierre Guédron, Anthoine Boesset and Estienne Moulinié. A repertoire performed by Vincent Dumestre's lively young ensemble, Le Poème Harmonique, which since 1997 has revived and taken a new look at many French works of the seventeenth century, imbuing them with passion and feeling.

 

Pierre Guédron's music shows his skill as an arranger of popular music : he made use of such tunes for his airs de cour, thus elegantly bringing together two cultures: that of the ordinary people and that of the aristocracy. The secular output of Anthoine Boesset, Guédron's son-in-law, was devoted exclusively to the air de cour, a genre typical of that period. He played an active part in life at the court of Louis XIII and composed vocal music for a number of ballets de cour. Another major exponent of the air de cour, Estienne Moulinié, worked at the court of the king's younger brother, Gaston of Orléans, and was a close observer of the ‘human comedy’ of his time. His works often show a fine sense of humour and he also composed some very lively songs, pastiches of the Neapolitan, Occitan and Spanish traditions.

 

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